Does anyone have any updates of this resort?
the last report of the resort wasnt too appealing but perhaps things have improved?

Playa Flamenca is not a resort. It is a residential urbanization, and not a particularly nice one.

As with all large urbanizations, it has a few commercial centres with bars, shops and restaurants. But for the most part these are not too appealing.

The full time residents are almost exclusively English (or more precisely, British), and most of them are past retirement age. The facilities in, and near the urbanization, are there to cater to that trade.

Some people like the place and have no desire to venture anywhere else, but there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of others who want to sell up and move elsewhere, and it is not just a sign of the present times that there are ‘Se Vende' signs everywhere that you look. People who have brought holiday homes there are more than eager to rent them out whenever they can.

I have no idea of what your idea of a nice Spanish holiday might be, and you may enjoy being in a better climate, on what you might recognise as being a housing estate with palm trees, eating and drinking in English (or Irish) bars and restaurants (at British prices), surrounded by people that only speak English. If so, then Playa Flamenca is for you.

To add to the overall ambience, the main coast road, the N332, is being widened through the area. The traffic is flowing well at the moment, but the area is a mess, and one can only hope that the road works are finished by the time things get busy later in the year.

thanks for your reply Oly

I'm certainly having reservations about this place. I've spent previous holidays in Bol Neuvo near Puerto d Mazarron which was very quiet and no English spoken. I've also been to La Manga strip which was far better than our first impression gave and as the wife's brother lives near Murcia we know quite a few places around that area. Cartagena, Fortuna, Lorca, and lots of visits to some of the quaint little villages around Mar Menor were definitely enjoyed. Our visit to Torrevieja ended abruptly, this is what we try to avoid on holiday!
I don't mind travelling out during the day, visiting the various beaches and fishing ports but at night time its good to use your feet to get to entertainment. I'd like to think there's some Spanish bars on offer, tapas instead of a bag of chips, Caballero, good paella, Spanish wines, cheeses and olives. Is this completely absent from Playa Flamenca? If prices are similar to Britain that again will be a negative, especially with the excange rate at the mo.

Actually, I wouldn't go around telling people that you are looking for a nice Caballero in the evenings, but that is another story!

It is wrong to think that Playa Flamenca is all chips. If you look around you can also get a kebab, fried chicken in a box, or an Indian or Chinese meal, but as far as tapas goes, you will have a bit of a drive.

In fact, the only Spaniard that owns a bar in Playa Flamenca that I know of has called it The Irish Bar!.

Mazarrón (as you have found), is pretty, clean but quite. You have a limited choice down there of places for food and entertainment.

It is hard to recommend any destination to anyone, as we all look for different things in our holidays, but I think you would enjoy Guardamar del Segura, which is midway between Alicante and the Orihuela Costa (Playa Flamenca).

Guardamar is much smaller than the more northerly Santa Pola, so it is easier to manage on foot. There are hundreds of places to eat and drink, and a very wide choice of cuisines. The beaches are very wide and stretch for several miles, with protected dunes. It is a popular destination for many Spanish, so the prices and the food reflect that fact. It is also an ideal base to explore this part of the Costa.

If you, or anyone else, is thinking of booking an apartment in Guardamar, then make sure that you are on the ‘beach' side of the N332. I have seen many properties advertised for rent claiming that they are ‘a few minutes walk' from the attractions, when in reality they are in neighbouring urbanizations.

Hi

Me and my boyfriend are 23 and 27 and are about to book a holiday for a couple of weeks in Playa Flamenca as a family friend of a friend has offered us their holiday villa there and we've been looking at getting away on the cheap!

We want a nice relaxing holiday with a nice beach and nice food and bars in the evening that are all close, so we dont have to hire a car. Are we going to find this or be disappointed???

Past posts have raised alarms giving me the impression that the areas mostly retired english people, english food, english bars, not very lively and you need a car.....

Would appreciate any opinions????

Thanks

Hi Felicity

"Past posts have raised alarms giving me the impression that the areas mostly retired english people, english food, english bars, not very lively and you need a car..... "

We go to Playa Flamenca every year and really like it. We are a couple with two children and it appeals to families. It may or may not be your ideal destination depending on what you want or are expecting. This is my opinion:-

The area is pretty much mostly retired people (not all though and not all English/British - there is a good internation mix and ofcourse Spanish!). The same is true of food and bars. Playa Flamenca has a wide range to choose from i.e. cheap / expensive - Fast food, English, Hungarian, Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, French, Spanish, American etc etc! Their target market is ex-pats and tourists and once you factor in the amount of food outlets available compared to the amount of customers - they do tend to be slightly more expensive than some comparable outlets aimed at local Spaniards. I'm not sure how to interpret your idea of "lively" but in high season (don't know when you are going) Playa Flamenca offers live music, discos, sports bars etc well into the early hours and has quite a young crowd appeal (not always in sinc with the elderly residents - therefore it sometimes gets a bad press). Also close by (usually within walking distance - P.F. covers a large area) is a lovely beer garden behind "The Abbey" pub in La Florida. It also offers live entertainment every evening in high season. The same is true of the "Asturias" - we enjoyed a great night there when they had an Abba tribute band playing. Playa Flamenca also has mini fun fair, go karting and laser quest along with a huge Saturday street market. Also a short taxi ride away is "Patio Andaluz" for typically tourist Spanish night out - great homemade Sangria, Spanish guitars, reasonable food & Flamenco dancers. There are 3 or 4 small but nice beaches in the Playa Flamenca area but they do get crowded in high season. We prefer to use a car and drive to the beaches on the Mar Menor instead. I don't know where your villa is (P.F. is a large area) it may be on the beach or it may be 40 mins (or more) walk away? Whether you need a car depends on what you want out of your holiday. Personally I would recomend hiring a car especially if the beach is important to you (the villa we use is 20 mins walk from the beach but in the heat of summer it is too far to walk with kids, buckets and spades etc). However, most villas have access to a pool and you would be able to do without a car as P.F. has banks, supermarkets, pubs, taxi's and buses.

We use the villa as a base and have stayed in and visited various other areas in and around Torrevieja. We keep going back to P.F. because it has all this choice. Other areas seem to be large housing estates with very little else (a couple of pubs and a shop, maybe a bank) plus one or two attractions about it i.e. it has 1 or 2 good places to eat/drink or it is close to a shopping mall or the aqua park or the golf course or the beach. However, all of these things are only a short journey by car, taxi or bus from P.F. plus you have all of what is described in the paragraph above on your doorstep. None of the other places seem to offer a similar variety within walking distance that you get in Playa Flamenca. The problem for first time visitors is knowing where to find it all.

There is also a minibus service which travels to Campoamor one way and to the new hospital the other way. You can then easily get a bus into Torrevieja proper.

Sorry forgot to say the fare is 1 euro 10

we have walked from pl to torre we walked along the front its a lovely stroll took us about an hour or just over